Q. Who are the ministers of the Church?A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.

— Catechism, The Book of Common Prayer (1979), pg. 855

Clergy

The Rt Rev’d Chip Stokes, XII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

Bishop Stokes is the chief pastor of parishes, missions, and special ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, including the Episcopal Church at Princeton. He oversees our ministry, counsels our chaplain, and chairs the Campus Ministry Foundation that supports ECP and other campus ministries in the diocese. Read more about Bp Stokes here.

Fr. Allen serves as the Chaplain at ECP. He is married to his wife, Mtr. Diane Mumma-Wakabayashi who is also an ordained priest in the Diocese of NJ. They have been married now for over 26 yrs.

Born and raised in Chicago, IL in a Japanese-American Christian community, Fr. Allen comes to ECP after having served in campus ministry for over 26 yrs, primarily with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Millikin University, Bradley University,Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At Millikin and Bradley University (1989-1995), Fr. Allen mentored students and helped to establish Bible Studies and outreach ministries. At Northwestern University (1995-2008), he directed a large campus ministry (~375 undergraduate students) seeking to embody the reconciling love of Christ across barriers of race and culture and proclaim the gospel on campus. At the University of Illinois (2008-2015), Fr. Allen provided training and formation for campus ministers and engaged in ministry to fraternity and sorority students, while also serving as the Associate Pastor at a large, non-denominational university-town church (~250 university students involved)

After having served in various Protestant and Evangelical church settings, Allen felt irrevocably drawn into the Anglican/Episcopal Tradition. The sacraments, tradition, sacred mystery… it opened up the life of faith in transformative ways. “It was like all of a sudden my faith went technicolor with an explosion of sights and sounds and smells!” And so, along with his wife, Allen was ordained to the priesthood. For his entire adult life, Allen has felt the call to share the love of Christ with university students and serve the university community. He continues that here at Princeton as ECP’s Chaplain.

A native of Pensacola, Florida and lifelong Southerner, Kara received her PhD in Christian theology and ethics at Duke University in 2018, with research interests that include Karl Barth, Søren Kierkegaard, and the ethics of science, technology, and medicine. A former specialist in the dynamics of nonlinear and complex systems, she earned the BSE, MS, and PhD in mechanical engineering and materials science at the Duke Pratt School of Engineering (and served on the faculty there) before joining NASA as a research engineer. After leaving government service, she returned to Duke in 2009 as a student in the Divinity School, and stayed on for her second doctorate.

Trisha is the Director of the Community-Based Learning Initiative (CBLI) at Princeton University, facilitating the collaboration of students, faculty, and community partners on community-driven academic projects and working with faculty to integrate such projects into courses throughout the curriculum. Ordained to the diaconate in 2015, she chairs the Diocesan Global Goals/Sustainable Development Goals Task Force and is dually appointed by the bishop to ECP and Holy Apostles’ Episcopal Church in Yardville, NJ. Her ministry at ECP includes assisting with liturgy, preaching, and helping to connect members of the chaplaincy to the wider community and world. She can be contacted at tthorme[at]princeton.edu.

The Rev’d Joanne Epply-Schmidt, Priest Associate

Joanne was baptized at ECP while an undergraduate at Princeton ('82), served as the Acting Administrative Chaplain during the search for a new chaplain, and now continues her ministry as a Priest Associate. She served for 11 years as a priest at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Pennington, NJ before joining the staff of Storytelling Arts of Princeton, a non-profit literacy and arts program. She has an abiding commitment to pastoral ministry in and reform of the justice system: teaching storytelling over a decade to adolescent males in the NJ Juvenile Justice System, serving as Program Chair of The Campaign to End the New Jim Crow (Trenton/Princeton Chapter), and leading statewide campaigns to address solitary confinement and mass incarceration. In the Diocese of New Jersey, she chairs the Campus Ministry Commission and serves as vice president of the Campus Ministry Foundation. She can be contacted at revjes1 [at] yahoo.com.

STAFF

Lily Leonard, Treasurer & Director of Advancement

Lily brings an extensive background in finance and administration to her work at ECP, having served as AssistantVice-President for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a US securities firm in Hong Kong. She subsequently lived and worked in London, Dublin, and Cape Town over the last two decades, including as an administrator for a mathematics program in partnership with the University of Cape Town and Princeton in Africa. She returned to the US in 2002 and continues to work on overseas infrastructure development projects in both Afghanistan and Colombia. An active member of Trinity Episcopal Church, where she serves on the acolyte guild and Grounds Committee, Lily is an avid sportswoman and accomplished international mountaineer completing the seven summits (scaling the highest peak on all seven continents). She lives in Skillman, NJ with her husband of 35 years and can be reached at lilyleonard [at] gmail.com.

Connor Fluharty, Director of Music

Connor oversees all aspects of sacred music at ECP, working with Lux Choir and serving as the organist, conductor, and choirmaster. A recent graduate of Westminster Choir College with a Master of Music, Connor served at First Presbyterian Church of Hightstown, NJ, before being appointed to serve at Trinity Church under the direction of Tom Whittemore (Director of Music, Trinity) and lead all aspects of sacred music at ECP.

Connor is married to Leslie Virnelson, a PhD student in Hebrew Bible at Princeton Theological Seminary. His performance of J.S. Bach's "Trio super Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland" BWV 660 on the Paul Fritts Organ, Op. 20, at Princeton Theological Seminary can be found here.

If you are interested in joining the Lux Choir or learning more about sacred music at ECP, contact Connor at fluhartycs1 [at] gmail.com.

Most often, seminarians come from within the ECP community: seminarians who have been a part of the worshipping body and exhibited particular gifts for ministry that could benefit the whole. Appointments are made in consultation with the chaplains and PTS Field Education Office. If you are interested in exploring a field ed internship at ECP, we would encourage you to first attend our Sunday (8pm Eucharist, Princeton University Chapel) and Wednesday (6pm Eucharist, Procter House) services to get a sense of life at ECP, and then speak to one of the chaplains after the service.N.B., Arrangements for the 2018-2019 academic year have already been solidified.